Chapter Text
Moonlight was sliced by the slightly opened blinds of the boys’ room in the small home. Ash wriggled in his slumber, restless in a battle inside his mind. He jolted up, hitting his head on the ceiling of his room when he tried to stand up. “Mmf,” he grunted, rubbing his head. His Pokédex read 1:15am with no notifications. Ever since he didn’t have to go to the Pokémon Center to talk to her, he never missed an opportunity to check for any notifications. Learning about all the functions of his Pokédex served more useful than he originally realized. He rubbed his baggy eyes and crawled around his partner as quietly as a Whismur before stepping down the stairs of his bed and out of his bedroom. The house was silent, matching the cozy town that he had lived in most of his life. He snuck past his mother’s room, where he could hear an audible slumber, and crept out the front door into her garden.
Flowers drifted to the side along the light breeze that the warm spring night had. Above him the stars twinkled like a shimmering jewel. Ash silently leaned on the fence of his house and gazed upon the seemingly endless field that was across the path. The town was known for the quiet atmosphere, by those who even know about it. For the amount of times he had audibly given out his address, his home was still an unknown place. His mother was still able to work peacefully in her quaint cafe, his family could live in quiet comfort, and his fellow civilians were living in an area with Pokémon in peace. He wondered if it was always this calm.
He looked past the buildings of the town to the path towards Viridian City. The grass was long and healthy, filled with Pokémon resting in the soft plants. The view of nature destruction was calming… His breath began to quicken. Grass Vines grew out and blanketed wrapped Pokémon while the people tried to rescue their loved partners. They screamed in terror while the orange-haired, malicious villain stood there, envisioning a beautiful world made from the destruction of an already wonderful place.
While the chaos ran on, all he could do was struggle to free himself from the metal orbs that held him in place. His Pokémon were exhausted from their attempted escapes. The orange haired villain stood below him with his backstabbing minion beside him. “Alain,” he commended, “Go check on Xerosic’s progress on Zygarde control.” The black haired teen walked off almost instantly, immune to the guilt of watching his friend— or whoever Ash was to him— stay hung in the air. Lysandre directed his gaze to Ash, used his controlled to him closer, and whis-
“Pika?” He snapped out back to reality and turned to the yellow creature at the door.
“Buddy, I’m sorry, I just couldn’t sleep.” Pikachu ran to him and climbed up to his shoulder. He gently licked his cheek with sympathy as they laid their eyes upon the starry sky.
“Ash! Where did you go?” He could hear Rotom Dex’s hollers from the shoreline. The ocean was calm during the sunrise, most of the aquatic Pokémon were still resting under the surface. On his regular Pokédex he reread the conversation he had yesterday with his friends, especially two who were traveling together in Hoenn. If only he had just gone with them, with her, they could have traveled for longer. Instead, he went back home and went on vacation. Everyone who knew said he needed it. And now they would talk whenever they could with everyone else in a group chat. At least she wouldn’t have too much attention on her by Arceus. He kept it secret from almost everyone, not wanting to draw too much attention, then again, the spotlight would never fail to shine on the Chosen One. Maybe keeping all of his other secrets hidden was making him appear too mysterious. Technically, it’s not a secret if he just never brings it up. If they ask he’ll tell them…possibly. Luckily, his classmates hadn’t described him as a hidden person, so he didn’t really feel bothered to reveal anything. They could be saying something different behind closed doors for all he knew, but he had to keep them safe. The Alolan people didn’t seem like the type to gossip negatively though, they were mostly bright and expressive like him. He pondered the future of his time in the region for a bit longer then, he stood up and headed back to the beach side house.
“You yell so loud Rotom,” he chuckled as he entered.
“Pika!” His partner was slowly approaching him with his backpack being dragged in his jaw. He picked it up along with his partner and turned to the door once again.
“Thanks buddy, let’s go.”
Rotom buzzed with irritation, “Where were you?”
“Out and about, it’s not like it was my first time being up before you.” The path to the Pokémon School winded upwards between a fence and a forest. There had been multiple times where he had seen the island guardian enter the bushy area for whatever reason. He really wanted to find a shortcut through that area at some point to feel like his past journeys but he knew Rotom would drag him back. Over the short, wooden fence was the sandy shore of the beach. The location was usually empty, due to the long travel and a forest being farther down. Sometimes he would go on walks with his Pokémon on the sand after school. But it was mostly a training ground for him right outside of the Professor’s house.
As they arrived at the front of the school a limousine drove up to the main gate. He immediately knew who would step out and strode over. “Aloha Lillie.”
“Aloha!” She turned to her butler, Hobes, “Thank you Hobes.” Ash couldn’t hear his response, but assumed a pleasant reply from the elder man. She walked in beside him and Rotom as they stepped onto the school grounds.
“What do you think the new unit will be about?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “but we’ll know in a bit. Why are you so interested in it?”
“I always try to get ahead,” Lillie admitted with a light blush of embarrassment.
Rotom zipped to the front, “I have a prediction, if you would like to hear it.”
“Even if we said no, you’d tell us anyway,” Ash said, swiping underneath his nose.
“Rude much?”
“Says the one who was yelling this morning,” he teased, while Pikachu laughed along, “I bet the Wingals could hear you.” The school was a massive one, being called a campus by multiple students. It stood with multiple floors and buildings combined into one of two buildings. The main building was made of glass on the outside parts and a slide that went around to some part he didn’t know yet. A large area of dull red surrounded the school with a track around a patch of grass near by a fence blocking off the nearby forest. Students were in large clusters making their way into the building. Ash and Lillie made their way inside and to their classroom through the usual late bustle to the room on one of the higher levels of the building. Inside were the other students, talking about a photo on Sophocles’ Rotom phone.
“Isn’t that outfit cute though?” The girl with hair the color of palm trees leaves commented. She held her partner Pokémon, Bounsweet, close to her gray overalls. The overalls were gray shorts with ruffled edges and a tank top that had a small pocket in the front. He saw her take out snacks for her Pokémon from the pocket sometimes. The back of the overalls had a matching gray bow. One could also see the sleeveless pink shirt underneath that matched the pink flower she always had in her hair. She styled it with two long ponytails.
“So is her Pokémon, it looks like a normal type,” the teal-haired girl, Lana, commented. Her shirt was like a slate of snow with a shirt cape attached. Her large pants had a wave design along the edge while she wore a swimsuit underneath her outfit. She kept a curved ‘x’ keychain on the dull yellow rope belt.
Ash peered at the photo from behind them, “It’s actually a fighting type.”
“Wha-!”
“Where’d you get that photo from?”
“When did you get here?” He shrugged. “Lana and I were watching a Pokémon contest and took a photo.”
“Oh yeah, I know some coordinators.” He took out a book from his backpack after getting Rowlet out, of course. The students gathered around and looked at the slightly worn blue cover. There were signatures all over the front. Inside were multiple pages of photos, with Pokémon and many recurring people. He pointed out an older photo of a brunette twirling with a Combusken and other Pokémon. When he was asked about it, he explained how his friend made the book then gave it to him when he went to college. Kiawe, dark-skinned, fire type trainer, looked closer and murmured about how many people were in there. Staying here most of their life probably didn’t give them many new faces. He told Lana and Mallow about some of the backstage details of performances until the professor stepped in.
“Alola Professor Kukui,” they chimed as they moved to their seats. “As I’m sure you all know, we will be starting a new unit. Which will be…” Ash and Kiawe began to smack their desks aggressively and lead the other students joined in the drumroll. “Evolution!”
“I was right,” Rotom buzzed with pride.
“This is going to be a longer one, so let’s review with the basics. So when eggs hatch into Pokémon…”
…
Komala rang the final bell of the school as Professor Kukui concluded his lesson and assigned some homework. Ash shot up and cramped his belongings into his bag. “Why are you rushing?” He gave a half-hearted response as he threw his backpack on and picked up his Pokémon partner.
“Wait, we were supposed to hang out today.” He turned to his friends with guilt for forgetting their plans. They usually just sat around in Mallow’s family restaurant and chatted idly about gossip and what not. Ash enjoyed listening to the stories his classmates had, but sometimes it felt awkward to just be quietly sitting around when there was good weather to enjoy. They were used to this year around, so it made sense they weren’t dying to do a walk and talk. Anyway, he could make it up to them easily, this he could not. Well, he probably could but it mattered more at the moment.
“I’m sorry,” Ash called as he dashed to the door, “just go without me!” He disappeared around the corner of the door frame with his Pokémon partner jumping out of his arms and following behind him.
“Chu?”
“I told you before, I’ve got to get something today if I want it to arrive on her birthday.” His partner shook his head at his procrastination. They headed off the school grounds and towards the town. “Maybe we can grab a few things for everyone else too!”
“Okay, what do you think about this one?”
“Pika,” his partner shook his head.
“This looks kinda cool.”
“Pika,” he repeated.
“Now this one’s pretty nice.”
“Pi…ka.”
“I can’t tell you if you have good taste or you're doing this on purpose.” The Pokémon shrugged. After grabbing a bite to eat at a battle cafe, Ash and Pikachu began the hunt for the perfect gift. They had been in their current store for about thirty minutes already, looking for the best one. In Ash’s tote bag, there was a pile of an assortment of items he thought his other friends would like. “There’s no way you say no to this one!” He held up a silky periwinkle gown that puffed up in the middle for a float-like effect. There were similarly colored flowers patterned all over the lower half with ruby flowers around the waist to separate both parts of the fit. The gown had side shoulder sleeves and a thin sleeve to hold it up. He could only dream of how she’d look in it, unless his partner would say-
“Chu!”
“If you said no, I would have taken it anyway.” He gingerly took the dress and checked it out before heading out. The mall was bustling with people on the Tuesday afternoon, as lively as the region usually was. He looked at the names of the stores that stood side-by-side, looking for the right place to stop at. After some time, he walked into another store. Ash handed his Pokédex to his partner, who was perched on his shoulder. “Can you look for that photo of the shoes Serena sent before? I’m sure we can find something similar that would also match the dress. You know my password, right?” Pikachu nodded and took the device. They stepped inside the conditioned store among the crowd.
Somewhere behind them, someone gasped, “Was that… Ash?”